Enriching a Child Psychology Course with Culturally Diverse Content in the Semi-rural US Midwest

What are some curricular and pedagogical ways through which the monopoly and narrowness of western scholarship can be challenged in an introductory class on child development? More importantly, how might we start to convince culturally and religiously insular students training to become teachers in their hometowns, that the study and practice of inclusiveness is an important part of a broadly based education in a global world? This paper describes an attempt at dealing with these questions in a mid-sized university located in a semi-rural part of the US Midwest. The course this paper focuses on was an introduction to child and adolescent psychology that was mandatory for students majoring in education. Class sizes were big, and student motivation levels left much to be desired. Students (and some members of the college faculty) saw discussions about multiculturalism and unconscious teacher bias as unnecessary, liberal attempts at political correctness. The experience of offering the course for over a decade revealed that themes of diversity had to be introduced in small steps, only as footnotes initially (e.g., fleeting mention of cultural similarities and differences, 30-second video clips) and very gradually ramped up to instructional strategies of longer duration and intensity (e.g., data-based study of stereotyping and cultural bias, discussions based on self-observation) in order for the students to begin to understand and accept their value for their professional and personal training.